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Q&A
Challenges and plans for rebidding NYC public school busing contracts
3:38:49
·
3 min
Council Member Rita Joseph and Deputy Chancellor Emma Vadehra discuss the challenges and plans for rebidding NYC public school busing contracts. The current contracts, which are 45 years old, limit services for students and need to be updated to improve transportation options.
- Current contracts are 45 years old and limit services for students with disabilities, in temporary housing, and in foster care
- DOE wants to rebid contracts but needs state legislation to protect bus employees
- Rebidding would allow for more accountability, flexibility, and transition to electric buses
- The DOE is currently negotiating contract extensions with vendors
Rita Joseph
3:38:49
I know Emma talked about we always talk about transportation, so let's talk about a little transportation.
3:38:55
How about that?
3:38:56
Council was happy that funding was added for summarizing in the preliminary budget and new commitment to universal after school in the executive plan, however there are still many issues with New York City public school busing contracts that limit students ability to participate in these crucial programming.
3:39:11
Transportation contracts have been renewed repeatedly for the last forty years because of an employment protection grandfathered in by the preexisting contract.
3:39:20
If these contracts were rebid with updated provision, we would lose EPP's that were deemed unconstitutional on the current state law.
3:39:29
At the same time, the current contracts limit what services can be provided for students disproportionately affecting students with disabilities, students in temporary housing, and students in foster care.
3:39:40
Is the DOE interested in supportive of rebidding bus contracts to improve services for New York City Public School Students?
3:39:47
A most favorite topic.
Emma Vadehra
3:39:49
Well, I'm I'm so happy because you said everything I would have said in response to you.
3:39:53
Yes.
3:39:53
We would love to rebid contracts.
3:39:55
By the way, they're 45 years old, not 40 years old.
Rita Joseph
3:39:57
Oh, 45.
Emma Vadehra
3:39:58
40 five.
3:39:59
Happy birthday.
3:40:01
Actually, 46 this year.
3:40:05
We would love to rebid our contracts, but as you said, we wanna make sure that our school bus employees who are not city employees but are working for vendors maintain the protections they have, And the courts have said we cannot currently rebid and include employee protection provisions.
3:40:21
There have been bills in front of the state legislature.
3:40:24
There is one now.
3:40:26
Our hero, Senator Jackson, is leading on the senate side.
3:40:29
And we would we would very much like to see that legislation passed so we could do this.
Rita Joseph
3:40:32
See, the RJs are getting it done here.
3:40:37
So you're advocating for that.
3:40:38
Will you consider renewing the contracts that expire in 2025 for one year in order to resolve issues with the new RFP in 2026?
3:40:46
We
Emma Vadehra
3:40:48
have been working because we can't rebid the contracts without hurting our school bus employees, We have been working on extending the contracts.
3:40:59
We've been in negotiations with our bus vendors for roughly forever, but certainly for many months and many negotiating sessions.
3:41:08
As as you know, when we are extending contracts as opposed to rebidding them, we have far less negotiating ability because we need to continue and we need to continue with this set of vendors.
3:41:20
So we are interested in shorter contracts, in shorter extensions, but we are in ongoing negotiations with them.
Rita Joseph
3:41:26
What can council do when we have been doing to support the effort to rebid the busing contract as soon as possible?
Emma Vadehra
3:41:33
Yeah.
3:41:33
Appreciate that question.
3:41:34
I will say just bringing it back to basics, we need to get this legislation passed.
3:41:38
Right?
3:41:39
We want to make sure we're protecting our workers.
3:41:41
Even if they're not working for us.
3:41:43
We need to get new bus contracts to better serve our kids and families.
3:41:48
We need more accountability and we need more flexibility as you flag every single time around summer rising and after school.
3:41:55
We need to do things like quickly transition to electric buses as well.
3:41:59
Right?
3:41:59
There's a lot we need to do that we need to rebid to be able to do, and getting that legislation passed is really key for that.